Professions

News about Professions, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Jul. 29, 2015

High demand for workers who can write computer code has spurred wave of career changes across nearly all industries; more workers are enrolling in short courses to learn coding, often at schools that specialize in accelerated digital training; strategy has allowed many to transition from low five-figure salaries to compensation in the six-figure range. MORE

Jul. 13, 2015

Rachel L Swarns The Working Life column profiles Lisa Amati, who has landed dream job as New York State's paleontologist; observes that Amati has set herself goal of making state's perehistoric lifeforms interesting and relevant to ordinary New Yorkers. MORE

Jun. 28, 2015

Vocations column; Joginder Kandola, who installs and maintains equipment at electrical switching stations for PSE&G in New Jersey, discusses his field and career. MORE

Jun. 14, 2015

Vocations column; Temmi Merlis, social worker at nonprofit Blue Card, discusses her field and career. MORE

May. 31, 2015

Vocations column; Juan Carlos Linares, general manager of Tanger Outlets in National Harbor, Md, discusses his career. MORE

May. 26, 2015

Comedy Central's Daily Show host Jon Stewart reveals that, for past three years, he has run five-week boot camp for military veterans, training them for jobs in television; Stewart kept project low key but says that now, after deciding to leave Daily Show, he wants project to become visible in hopes that others in industry will follow his example. MORE

May. 24, 2015

Mary Pauline Lowry On Work column recalls her experience working at a small-town domestic abuse shelter, where her expectations about residents were quickly upended; recounts difficult emotions she felt as she learned to be more decisive and firm. MORE

May. 17, 2015

Vocations column; Nancy Robert, an employee at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, discusses her field and career. MORE

May. 12, 2015

A study published this week found that prestigious jobs were not linked to more well-being and that public-service work correlated with less alcohol consumption. MORE

May. 12, 2015

Arthur C Brooks Op-Ed article notes dramatic change in life and career expectations in America since late 1970s, and argues that commencement speeches directed at graduating millennials should focus on encouraging them to find a life purpose rather than a linear career. MORE

May. 10, 2015

Vocations column; Paul Weyant, tree tapper for Crown Maple, discusses his field and career. MORE

May. 3, 2015

Vocations column features interview with Sean Hopkins, reliability engineer at Dyson. MORE

Apr. 27, 2015

Op-Ed article by policy expert Lina Nilsson offers evidence that the opportunity to work on societally meaningful projects could be key factor in convincing more women to become engineers; argues that while there are many social factors inhibiting women from such careers, reframing goals of engineering research may be one of the easiest to fix. MORE

Apr. 26, 2015

Suzanne Joinson On Work column recalls her experience moonlighting as a writer of sex-related messages to men who paid for the thrill of receiving them. MORE

Apr. 19, 2015

Vocations column; Sheryl Jordan, equestrian director at Salamander Resort and Spa in Middleburg, Va, discusses her field and career. MORE

Apr. 16, 2015

National Speakers Association holds media lab event in Times Square to help aspiring motivational speakers of all types to hone their crafts and shape their careers. MORE

Apr. 12, 2015

The Upshot; Sendhil Mullainathan Economic View column examines fact that large proportion of elite economics majors and other bright young minds choose to pursue careers in finance; argues that trend can have a draining effect on nation and its economy when such graduates go on to simply move money from one place to another, but suggests that are still many ways in which financiers can make world a better place. MORE

Apr. 12, 2015

Anne Foster On Work column describes her experience working as a bike courier in Manhattan, where she discovered community of fellow messengers and service workers throughout city. MORE

Apr. 5, 2015

Vocations column; Jonathan Temple, employee at the Liberty Elevator Corporation in Paterson, NJ, discusses his career and training as an elevator mechanic. MORE

Mar. 15, 2015

Adriana Gardella On Work column describes how experience of trying to work as actor for one year soon after graduating from college taught her joy of self-reliance; notes that experience also allowed her to see that she had wide variety of career options to pursue, as long as she was willing to work. MORE

Mar. 8, 2015

Vocations column; David Flores, bridge inspector for HNTB, describes his job requirements. MORE

Feb. 23, 2015

Tabitha Waugh, registered nurse in Huntington, West Virginia, epitomizes how the health care profession is increasingly providing inroads to the middle class as industrial jobs grow scarce; Waugh earns $27 per hour and has become main breadwinner for her family of four; health care industry now provides 4.5 million middle-class positions, up from just 1.4 million in 1980 (Series: A Shifting Middle). MORE

Feb. 22, 2015

Vocations column; Jinho Ferreira, sheriff’s deputy and performer in Alameda County, Calif, discusses his job. MORE

Feb. 15, 2015

Jan. 28, 2015

Eduardo Porter Economic Scene column observes that states' occupational licensing regulations can hobble economy, inflating price of goods and services and limiting access to good jobs across nation; cites significant inefficiency of New York City's taxi medallion system, which was upended by emergence of Uber car service app; questions whether public should continue bearing cost of professional licensing system in which only select few profit. MORE

Jan. 11, 2015

Vocations column; Stacy Steffen, biomechanist at Brooks Running Co, discusses her field and career. MORE

Jan. 11, 2015

Rob Walker The Workologist column answers question about an unorthodox email from a supposed job recruiter. MORE

Jan. 11, 2015

More and more powerful women are becoming career mentors to younger women, branding their new role through books, websites and events, leaving some to wonder if trend has become too overwhelming. MORE

Dec. 14, 2014

Dec. 7, 2014

Vocations column features interview with Elizabeth Hensel, who discusses her experience working as a falconer with Falcon Environmental Services in Plattsburgh, NY. MORE

Dec. 7, 2014

Most millennials have more than one career--one that usually pay the bills, while the other or others provide a more creative outlet. MORE

Nov. 30, 2014

The Upshot; study from Harvard Business School challenges notion that lack of female executives at the top of corporate America is due to women choosing family over career; finds instead that trend is due to mismatched expectations, with women often being disappointed in the hope that spouses will share equally in childcare, and will value their careers equally. MORE

Nov. 30, 2014

Vocations column features interview with Shane Ruth, men’s visual director for windows and interiors at Bergdorf Goodman in New York. MORE

Nov. 23, 2014

Nov. 9, 2014

Vocations column features interview with Marcus Rede, forklift driver for an Ikea distribution center in Bakersfield, Calif. MORE

Nov. 2, 2014

Vocations column features interview with Julianne Gupta, who works for United Prosthetics in Dorchester, Mass. MORE

Oct. 12, 2014

Danial Adkison On Work column recalls her positive experience working as a dishwasher at Pizza Hut as a teenager; notes that she had a caring boss who imbued workplace with a sense of family and imparted the idea that hard work yields success. MORE

Oct. 5, 2014

Vocations column features interview with Michael Pelonero, director of field representatives for Enservio, a provider of services and software for insurers. MORE

Oct. 5, 2014

Robert Samuel is a professional line-sitter; for a fee of $25 for the first hour and $10 for each additional half-hour, Samuel will stand in line for hours on end for designer sample sales, concert tickets, video games and cell phones. MORE

Oct. 5, 2014

The Upshot; market for medical assistant education is deeply troubling; federal data that tracks college graduates into job market shows that many people who graduate from such programs struggle to find work, and that those who do work often make little money. MORE

Sep. 28, 2014

Media consultant and former television executive Michael Cascio relates lessons he learned working as a janitor for two summers when he was younger. MORE

Sep. 14, 2014

Vocations column features interview with Sarah Edwards, district manager for Towne Park, a national company that manages hospitality services for hotels, health care facilities and other businesses. MORE

Sep. 10, 2014

Thomas L Friedman Op-Ed column notes Gallup poll exploring link between education and long-term success in the workplace; calls on government to play greater role in fostering more and more employer-educator partnerships that businesses can benefit from. MORE

Sep. 1, 2014

Op-Ed article by author Ben Carpenter contends fact that 83 percent of college seniors graduated without a job in 2014 is not a reflection on the quality of American higher education, but is because students are not taught to consider their futures in a structured, comprehensive way; urges colleges across nation to create, and require for graduation, a course in career training that would begin freshman year and end senior year. MORE

Aug. 21, 2014

Banks fear competition for top talent from companies like Google and Facebook that can offer similarly high pay combined with luxurious benefits. MORE

Aug. 17, 2014

Miranda Mellis On Work column describes series of odd jobs she held from ages 18 to 26, after which she began teaching creative writing; argues that while work could be confining, it also gave her a sense of endless possibility. MORE

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